I am a total newbie and have these in their original console home. I am doing a bit of a reno on it and would like to replace the speaker wires as the old ones are pretty shot. I am having trouble finding the right connectors to use on the posts these have. Soldering is out because, well I am freakin' terrible at it. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I plan to use 14-guage speakerwire and they get wired in series with the mid/tweeter so some of the connections are doubled.
Thanks in advance for the help. Yes, I know they are very dirty...
MD
Thanks in advance for the help. Yes, I know they are very dirty...
MD
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I would hate to add additional connectors in the form of soldering on binding posts, etc, so I temporarily have wire connected with alligator clips. I plan to solder wire directly to the little sliver of wire visible on the plate (not the rods). I would recommend practicing soldering a bit and do it. If not, one could use banana plugs with largish hole to just crank down on the rod and speaker wire together mechanically, bypassing the banana plug metal. I have this one, which has large enough hole to accomodate both the rod and speaker wire.
https://www.parts-express.com/Banan...p=F&custcol_disableshopping=F&undefined=18.99
https://www.parts-express.com/Banan...p=F&custcol_disableshopping=F&undefined=18.99
Thanks for the quick reply. Soldering is made much tougher by the fact that I would have to break loose glued on front covers in order to remove the speakers from the cabinet and I don't want to risk that damage. So trying to solder them in-situ is that much tougher. I should put in some practice time though anyway, lol.
I actually like the banana plug idea. So was your thought to put the post and wire through the side hole or through the bottom or one in each? I have some of the double-set screw kind and they actually fit with the two wire and the post inside, just not sure if that is good enough contact compared to the ones you linked.
MD
I actually like the banana plug idea. So was your thought to put the post and wire through the side hole or through the bottom or one in each? I have some of the double-set screw kind and they actually fit with the two wire and the post inside, just not sure if that is good enough contact compared to the ones you linked.
MD
I would use the large side hole for both so post and wire touch physically. If you have banana plugs already, why not give it a try.
Let me try on an extra-large electrician's twist-cap... after work in 8 hours. Been using alligator clip which gripped the rod just fine.
Thick wire would require cutting short the yellow twist-cap and possibly bending the post slightly. Thin wire like shown could fit the orange twist-cap but I would definitely add a dab of hot glue or something to secure the cap.
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So I went with the dual-set screw nakamichi's I had. It was a bit of an ordeal with them still in the console but I got it done. All connections seem very solid. Looks wonky but seems to have fit the bill. Thanks for the suggestions.
I did some basic testing both ways and the tweeters are certainly adding to the overall sound. I thought the cap on the mid was acting as a crossover of sorts.
Is that a 2" Zenith paper Alnico tweeter?
Trying to lightly cross in Ti bullet tweeters at 10kHz didn't really work out, i.e. more detail and air but a bit of a hit in the coherency.
Trying to lightly cross in Ti bullet tweeters at 10kHz didn't really work out, i.e. more detail and air but a bit of a hit in the coherency.
After listening all day to the exuberant 2-5khz hump (against MA200 and new 3.5" fiberglass honeycomb dubiously after Eve SC-203), I've now toned down the Zenith with a somewhat heavy-handed notch filter, using the first bits I could find: 0.6mH || 4uF || 15R. Nice, especially with Zenith playing guitar and MA200 harpsichord (in trio "Bach with Pluck!" one of my favorites).
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I think that 2-5kHz emphasis is part of what makes Zenith sound so special, esp with female vocals. I did try notching it down a bit with DSP but preferred no DSP. I grabbed some open-cell foam and stuck it around the Zenith, creating essentially a 90 degree waveguide and diffraction ring, and this preserved the vocal magic while smoothing out the hump. This likely only works because drivers are aimed straight at my ears..
0309251414_HDR by drjlo2, on Flickr
0309251414_HDR by drjlo2, on FlickrI'm building a new cab, 24"x37". If I only gain a slight improvement over my smaller cabs, I will be thrilled.
Finally done. Slightly deeper bass over the smaller cabs. Detail might suffered slightly. Still playing with placement. I swapped out the Zenith with a Philips 12" AD 1256m8. The Philips is sounding better, more bass and more effortless.
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Philips full range drivers do have nice bass. I am using Philips AD4200M full-range as bass/mid drive up to 1kHz.
I dunno, with both the Zenith and Philips, I feel like the midrange magic is realized on open-baffle, and the missing bass is better served in other ways..
I dunno, with both the Zenith and Philips, I feel like the midrange magic is realized on open-baffle, and the missing bass is better served in other ways..